Bog Standard Isekai

A pulse of power rose through the earth; Brin could feel it even where he stood on the ground floor. It was as if the first pulse of electricity in the veins of a giant beast were sending a signal of pain from the foot that moved all the way to the top of the head. Then came the reaction from the power waiting at the top of the Tower. Energy. Authority. Power.

Even so, a thousand had to be impossible. The power wasn’t the problem; the power was there. Brin could feel it. The problem was Mental Control. There was no way anyone could handle that many Split Minds all at once. Not unless the System had given Hogg something really good.

In the front garden maze, the shadows began to deepen. The faint and cool shadows cast by shrubberies and short trimmed trees now seemed as deep as an underground reservoir. There was a groaning sound, a tormented wind, and then figures began to rise from the shadows as if pulling themselves out of hell.

There was some screaming and a bit of running from the commoners on the grounds, but most of them stayed frozen in shock.

The black figures pulled themselves fully from the ground, and then their black forms lightened up in places, turning to grays of every shade, until they were nearly human in appearance, just robbed of all pigment. No two of them had the same face—Hogg really was a genius—but all of them were dressed in servant's black and white.

The commoners began to clap. Brin really didn't understand it, until he overheard someone say, “Oh, how neat! The show is already starting. They do something like this every year.”

Apparently, if the evacuation order had made it here, no one was taking it seriously.

The army of Shadow Elementals sprang into action. They summoned weapons of black shadow as they ran, and then all at once blurred forward. They fell upon the approaching Shrouded, landing among the red-raged skinless ones first.

Black shields and spears blocked the oncoming monsters, some of them mere inches away from the onlooking commoners who were sure this was all an [Illusionist] show.

Like with Lumina's shields, Hogg's Shadow people defied all expectations in the way they were able to stop the monsters, but Hogg had been with Lumina every step of the way when she'd been developing the Language needed to empower their spells against these beasts. He knew them almost as well as she did.

Red Shrouded tore at the Shadow Elementals with their hands, sometimes leaving long rents in the summoned bodies, but the black weapons left wounds in return, and Hogg's summons fought with strategy and coordination that completely outmatched the first eager red Shrouded.

When the first wave fell, purple sobbing Shrouded came next. These walked slowly and were bulbous and fat. They attacked slowly, as if every movement were an unendurable inconvenience, but Hogg's summons were hard-pressed to leave even superficial wounds on them.

The rest of the horde were made of a wide mix of colors. Hard-spiked blues and silent skinny blacks displayed no emotions that Brin could immediately recognize, but the greens were obviously fear. Those didn't engage at all, and were easily herded; the biggest problem they served was the fact that they often switched to a more dangerous color with no warning.

Yellows were clearly the worst. These laughing men and women went where they wished with little resistance, and Hogg's Elementals quickly learned that distracting them was easier than trying to fight them. Brin was sure their emotion was Joy, but they could be goaded into a fight, and when they did, they enjoyed it a lot.

“How can I help?” Brin asked Hogg, using the Invisible Eye he still had in the Tower basement.

“Keep going on those Shroudling outbreaks. If we miss even one of those in a crowd of civilians, we might lose the whole Tower. And see if you can get Bia or Vitor to tell you about these guys' weaknesses. Look down at the Levant. They're already regenerating,” said Hogg.

Brin's eye on the water told him it was the truth. The water was still churning and turning out multi-colored Shrouded. Hundreds had become thousands, and there was no sign that they were slowing down. Brin was willing to bet that the ones that Hogg was killing on the Tower's doorstep were returning again from the water. The Motley Shroud was endless.

“We could try pouring your Color Poison into the Levant,” Brin ventured.

“I'll get some Shadows on it. But really, it's not as bad as it looks. As long as no one touches the Grand Focus of Keetes, I can keep this up forever. You wouldn't believe the power, Brin. There's a good reason the Easterlings risked everything to come after this thing,” said Hogg.

Brin had made his way outside, and his friends were all gawking at the incredible battle taking place between the army of Shadow Elementals and the Motley Shroud. Brin was looking the other way. He craned his neck, looking up towards the top of the Tower.

That was going to be a problem. Maybe if this was just a random monster outbreak, he wouldn't worry, but there were too many signs of forethought in this attack. The way the monsters had gone straight for the Tower and not the palace or the city. The wagon blocking the exit. The fact that Arcaena was involved. It was a good rule of thumb to always assume that she knew your weaknesses and had plans to exploit them.

“Alright. I'm going up there.”

Back in the great hall, commoners played festival games, laughed, danced, bought and sold, and gawked at the desperate fight of Shadow against Water happening around them. The Shadow Elementals were perfect in diligence to their duty, and often sacrificed themselves to keep the commoners from harm. The commoners laughed and joked as they were splashed with the water of a defeated Shrouded or made to inhale the smoke of a defeated Shadow.

Brin ran straight through, his friends trailing behind him.

“Must I come along? I fear that again I will be naught but a liability,” said Sancha.

“Might I suggest [Running], my lady?” said Sion.

“I haven't taken that one,” she said.

“Take it now. Trust me: You'll have another General Skill point or two before the day's end,” said Sion.

“But am I needed?” she asked.

“Yes. You more than anyone. You'll see when we get to the top,” said Brin. They'd need to be careful with the Grand Focus. If anyone with a magical Authority that touched on something related to Light were to touch it, there was a chance they'd take control of it away from Hogg. The only person they could really trust with it was Sancha, and even then it would be best if she levitated it with her Gem magic rather than touching it directly.

He slid to a stop at the elevator's entrance, but there was a line, so he stepped over to the Tower's map board and pressed his palm to the screen. Rather than update the display, he saw a notification.

It was confusing at first, because it was a visibly different shade of blue than the regular System update screens, but when he saw the text, he understood.

Tower Message. You have been granted expanded access to Tower Functionality. Please review the following options:

1. Floor Evacuation Plan

2. Administrative Controls

3. Map

4. Dismiss

“Out of the way!” Rhun yelled, and began shoving through the civilians waiting in line for the elevator. When the doors opened, he roughly shoved and pulled the people out, and then waved at Brin to get in. “Are we not in a hurry?”

“I guess we are, but... sorry. Excuse me,” said Brin, and shoved his way through after, pulling Sancha along since she wasn't enough of a brute to do it herself.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Once the five of them were in the elevator and the doors were closed, Rhun asked. “Where to?”

“All the way to the top,” said Brin.

Rhun pressed the button for the top floor, but the whole panel flashed red. When Brin pressed the same button, the elevator started to move.

Much too quickly, the elevator stopped again. They were only on the third floor. When the doors opened there was nothing in sight except for regular halls and classrooms.

Tower Message. All Users with Advanced Access must resolve Tower emergencies before resuming elevator access.

Brin said, “Getting to the top floor is a Tower emergency!” He was a bit surprised when the Tower responded.

Tower Message. Please resolve Tower emergency.

If there was an emergency on this floor, then it made sense it wasn't where he could see it from here. This side of the floor was Earth Circle, but if they crossed over to the other side, they'd be in Water Circle territory.

“Let's go,” said Brin, and explained what little he knew on the way.

“More running,” panged Sancha. “How nice.”

“We have barely begun!” responded Sion, still chipper and fresh as ever. “Have you taken [Running] yet?”

Brin's invisible eyes found the ongoing disaster before his body could reach it. Groups of Water Mages were contending with roving Shrouded while dodging flying Shroudlings, but it was a disaster. The red and skinless Shrouded punched straight through the strongest Water Shields, and the shackles and spears of water they threw at them could barely slow them down.

Their one saving grace was the pair of Shadow Elementals who were fighting alongside them, and these were the originals, Jeeves and Bedelia.

Brin summoned some Laser Drones, the illusions that looked like glass constructs that he made to give a plausible explanation for his lasers, and sent them on ahead. He ignored the physical Shrouded, but he shot down every Shroudling he saw with a beam from his drones.

He passed his first group of [Mages] and called for them to join him, because he had a feeling he'd need as many hands as he could get today, even if Water magic didn't work great for these enemies, but the [Water Mages] ignored him and kept running.

The second group also refused to join his group, but they shouted, “The second laboratory! Down the hall on the right!”

Bedelia and Jeeves were unleashing legendary destruction on the hallway to the left, so he figured he might as well divide and conquer. He went down the right, and then checked the numbers on the doors until he reached the second laboratory.

Opening it up, he saw a room the size of a basketball court, only it was completely full of water. There was a platform just outside the door, and a bunch of little boats. They were just little cars on tubes, with simple steering wheels, and he got the impression that this was for the festival: they meant to let commoners ride around on the bumper boats. Luckily, there were no commoners present today. Instead, there was a horde of Shrouded, clawing their way out of the Water to throw themselves at Vitor, standing on the water.

He was defending a group of [Water Mages] who'd tied five of the bumper boats together to make a last stand.

A huge gaping hole in the Tower wall showed a view of the city below—though not a great one as this was only the third floor. He thought there was originally a lot more water in this lab before the Shrouded had broken through.

Vitor ran across the water's surface while sending fangs of hardened sand at the Anger Shrouded surrounding him. They were using the water as cover and rising up only long enough to claw at him, but the doubled Dexterity of his curse made him too quick. His sand was at a severe disadvantage here, but whatever Skills were working with his sword more than made up for it, because every slash dispersed one of the monsters.

It was a war of attrition that Vitor was losing, because every time he took one out, the water would start boiling again, signaling that the Shrouded would respawn here again. Also, he couldn't seem to use his sand any longer after a Shrouded made it wet.

The real trouble came from the laughing, floating Joy Shrouded. He swung lazily through the air, but then suddenly darted at Vitor, who had to sacrifice the bulk of his remaining sand to deflect him. The Joy Shrouded screamed with laughter and then started floating around to wait for another opening.

Brin shot a few floating Shroudlings out of the air with his lasers, then looked around for another way to help. He couldn't walk on water like Vitor, so he couldn't just run out there.

“I have an inflatable raft!” said Sion, already digging through his backpack.

“Let’s stay off the water for now, though I appreciate the offer,” said Brin. Looking at his crew, he saw Ares dashing coming down the hall after them, already caught up after warning his father.

Brin started to gather glass for a couple spears, and then told Ares, “Just in time! Give the water a jolt! Wait for Vitor to be in the air.”

It wasn't long before Vitor was forced to dodge the claw of an Anger Shrouded by flipping through the air, and Ares shot a nicely ear-ringing lightning bolt into the pool.

The Shrouded screamed in pain, and a good number of them turned from red to fearful green.

“Brin! So YOU'RE behind this!” Vitor roared.

“Heads up, you idiot!” Brin yelled.

Vitor began to move, but he wasn't in time to avoid the Joy Shrouded that had taken his momentary distraction as the perfect time to attack. Brin's glass spears were already in motion, and he pushed them forward just in time to deflect the attacking Shrouded. The monster squealed in delight and careened away from Vitor, only to dart back in without warning.

Calixtum leapt out of Vitor and grabbed the Joy Shrouded with both hands around the neck. “STOP! Stop it!”

The Joy Shrouded looked confused for a moment, and Brin had a moment to hope that he'd change his emotion. Then he smiled and returned the gesture, grabbing Calixtum around the cords and pipes of his red, skinless neck. In childlike curiosity, he squeezed and twisted until he popped Calixtum's head right off. Calixtum's entire body dissolved into water and splashed into the pool below.

“That was anti-climactic. So falls Calixtum Tanner,” said Brin.

“If you're really here to help, give me some sand!” said Vitor.

“<Separate.>” With a single word, Brin disintegrated his spears into glass sand, which Vitor quickly took control of. He clumped it into little stones, and then jumped between the rocks, increasing his speed across the surface of water even further.

He slashed left and right to keep a lid on the Shrouded, destroying them as soon as they popped up, and the [Water Mages] on the lifeboats began to let their shields drop, sensing they were saved.

The Joy Shrouded was still a problem, but the solution to that was on the way. Brin stepped aside and let Bedelia through. She dashed across the surface of the water like Vitor, and then jumped onto the back of the Joy Shrouded. He seemed to delight in the novelty of having a Shadow Elemental riding on his back, and swooped around, trying to buck her off.

“Can she win?” asked Sion.

“Bedelia is a pretty good fighter, but that's not her greatest strength,” said Brin. “You'll see.”

Bedelia stuck a finger in her mouth, and then popped the finger in the Joy Shrouded’s ear. He absently swatted her arm away, but she stuck it in again.

“Cut that out!” the Joy Shrouded said, and hit her arm hard enough to shatter her arm. It hung limp at an odd angle, but she pushed a finger in his ear from the other side.

She twisted out of the way as he tried to hit her arm again, but he kept the finger in his ear.

“Stop it. That's not funny. I said STOP!” The Joy Shrouded darkened, then grew. His pigment turned red and his muscles bulged, escaping his skin as he turned into the larger, more ferocious Rage Shrouded.

Larger and more ferocious, but comparatively weaker. Bedelia slit his throat with her fingernails, and he splashed into the water.

“Ok, now what do we do about all of this?” Brin asked, pointing to the still-churning water.

“Go ahead! Drain it!” shouted Vitor.

The [Water Mages] swung their arms back and forth, and a tide began in the pool. On the fifth back and forth, a stream of water splashed over the side, and they held it there, guiding the water to pour in a stream through the hole in the Tower.

Brin's Invisible Eyes saw that below, the commoners who were getting splashed by the water thought the whole thing was hilarious. At least the ground floor was where Hogg was keeping the bulk of his Shadow Elementals. He'd take care of it if that water kept sprouting Shrouded.

The [Water Mages] on the rafts gradually lowered to the floor as the water was drained. They emptied to pool out completely, leaving it dry.

Now that the trouble had passed, there was only the matter of how Vitor was going to get out of the laboratory. The floor was twenty feet below where Brin's hallway entered. Well, the guy could probably jump that, and if not, it was just a bit of wall running.

The [Water Mages] didn't look like they were ready to go anywhere. Two of them were holding each-other up with arms around their shoulders, and one had collapsed onto his hands and knees on the ground.

Tower Message. Warning: Please exit towards the elevator immediately. An emergency requires your attention on the Fourth floor.

Brin immediately sent an Invisible Eye towards the next floor up, and that moment of distraction was fatal—just not for him.

He'd missed that the [Water Mage] on the ground was throwing up, and it was rainbow colored.

[Water Mages] must've been more susceptible to the curse that spread the Shroud, because rather than the gradual phasing in of Shroudlings he'd seen from Bia, this was like a bomb going off. The burst from the [Water Mage] in a wave of fog, and then instantly reversed and flew back at him like the backdraft.

To Brin's shame, Vitor reacted first, blasting away half of the creatures in a gust of stinging wind, but the rest tore the poor man to pieces.

Brin didn't even get a chance to see if he was a good enough person to use his single Healing Potion on a stranger. The man was dead before Brin landed on the floor of the pool.

He shot several of them with his lasers, but more of them escaped, and he was sure he lost sight of a few of them when they scattered into the open air.

Brin sent an urgent message to Bia, Marksi, and Hogg. “Damn it. We've lost containment. There's going to be more infected.”

“It gets worse,” responded Hogg, just to him. “Did you see what's happening on the fourth floor?”

Brin's Invisible Eye had already made it up there, as a matter of fact. There were a good number of Tower servants in their black and white uniforms, taking down the decorations for an ice-skating event that had been canceled.

And then, in an adjoining ballroom, Easterlings. They were coming from the east, entering straight into the Tower in groups of twenty at a time. Already, a hundred. Some of them were tall and spiky, some were sleek and smooth, and most had bare blue shells, though a few were clothed in black. Only one stood out—a human was with them in blue-studded leather armor. Ninety-nine Easterlings, and a singular human. They were being quiet, but Brin could hear the human whispering.

“...servants. They won't fight. As soon as I open the door, well, you know what to do.”

They were attacking the servants again. It was going to be another slaughter.